Do You Trust Me?
by arjasmo
Summary: Trust has long been the strongest part of the Doctor and Rose's relationship. Things take a when the Doctor is bitten by a snake on an alien planet and the venom turns him into an aggressive animal. Now he has hurt Rose and has hunted her in the TARDIS. Can Rose find help in time to turn him around? More than anything, will she ever be able to trust him again?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:**

**This story is a bit of a departure for me in exploring the darker side of Doctor things. In this story the Doctor is literally taken over by something he can't control and does some things he would never do. Why the spoilers? I don't want to scare anyone. The frightening parts will be clearly marked and you will be able to skip them if you want. It is a means to an end and the theme of the story will shine through later.**

"What a beautiful view!" Rose exclaimed, twirling around. Her voice echoed down the mountain face. She and the Doctor were atop a gorgeous mountain on the planet of Choor. The Doctor stepped up to her and set his hands on her shoulders. They took in the scenery together. They had climbed up a steep mountain trail with the help of two local guides to, as legend said, the most breathtaking view on the planet. Rose and the Doctor certainly were not going to argue with that. From their vantage point they could see the snowcapped surrounding mountains, much higher than the one they had climbed. It was cool at their elevation, but not cold. They were, in fact, in a meadow that had been carved undoubtedly when the mountain range was forged.

The Doctor took Rose's hand and led her to a picnic set out by their guides who were a local brother and sister. Enu was the brother and Mora the sister. Their race was distinctly humanoid. The only real differences that Rose could tell were light webbing between their fingers and ears that were flush against their heads. Their race had adapted to the high altitude and made frequent trips to the summits of the surrounding peaks.

The hike that day had taken about two hours. They had to cross a few mountain streams and do some outright climbing, but most of it was pretty easy. Guides were required by the local law enforcement because they had executed far too many rescues over the years of tourists who got lost, ran afoul of the local wildlife or fell into a river.

The two guides had set out a nice spread of local fruits and breads along with spreads that looked like hummus. They all sat together and chatted while they ate. Mora and Rose were close in age and had instantly taken a liking to each other. They giggled and carried on much like the Doctor would have imaged Rose and her mates did on Earth. Enu was the more serious of the two siblings. He was a few years older and kept a close eye on Mora. This time though, his eyes were to the skies. He stood and walked a few feet away to a better vantage point and the Doctor joined them.

"Storm coming in?" the Doctor asked. He actually had been keeping an eye on the weather too.

"Yes, up here they are very unpredictable. I think we better head down. I would hate to get caught," Enu answered.

They rejoined the girls, who were deep in a conversation. They looked up as the men approached and melted into peals of laughter.

"What?" Enu and the Doctor said in unison. This just elicited more laughter from the girls.

Enu was the first to speak up. "We need to pack up, there is storm coming in."

Mora got serious very fast. Rose took the cue from her and hustled to clean up and pack the picnic. "Why do we have to move so quickly?" she asked, packing the blanket into Mora's bag.

"Storms up here unpredictable and can be quite severe. We are just about to start winter here so a big storm coming in wouldn't be out of the ordinary." Mora had taken her brother's serious expression. She softened a bit though, looking at Rose. "When we get down you should come over to my house. My father wanted to have a bonfire tonight and we will cook. He can come too," she indicated the Doctor. "Um, just to get it all straight, are you two um…"

"We aren't together if that is what you are asking. We are travelling companions and friends."

"Well good, I'll invite my friend Keva over. He's really cute."

Rose just smiled. She wasn't really with the Doctor but they weren't really apart either. It was complicated. He was the first person she wanted to see in the morning and the last one she wanted to see at night. They were close and shared everything, and would even sleep in the same bed on occasion when the event, or jail cell, warranted it. But he had always been a perfect gentleman. She did not know where she stood, but was always comfortable. He was always there for her, fiercely protective but supportive and helpful. It was a good arrangement and she wasn't sure she wanted to mess anything up by being courted by another man.

The men came up again, discussing weather patterns and cloud formations. They all grabbed their packs and set off down the trail. Enu was first, followed by the Doctor and Rose with Mora taking up the rear.

The rain started after about a half hour. It was a drizzle at first but became steadier. Enu was on constant watch for flash floods, as they were notorious in this area. The hike down was slow going. It became slippery and they had to find walking sticks to aid their decent.

They came to a river that had been not much more than a babbling brook when they had crossed it originally. To get to it, they had to climb down some sharp rocks. Rose found this difficult. They made her hands hurt and she got a little scraped up in the process. There was a little island in the middle of the river and the Doctor was able to leap from a downed log to it. Rose, however, had much shorter legs and was stranded on a similar log, wondering how she would get over.

"Come on Rose!" he yelled over the sound of the rushing water.

"I don't think I can make it!" she called back.

He stepped off the island a bit, into some shallow water surrounded by rocks. "Here take my hand!"

The log Rose had stepped onto was starting to shake a little in the current. Her time on it was limited before it was taken by the rising river. She looked up at him, fear playing across her face.

"No really Rose, there is a sturdy rock here for you to land on. Take a big step and I'll catch you!"

"I don't know…"

He looked into her eyes. "Trust me, I'll get you."

With that she leapt. She felt his strong hands grab onto her as she made it to the rock. Strangely his face was momentarily screwed up in pain and they fell backwards onto the island. Rose scrambled up, careful not to hurt him. He pulled himself up farther onto the sand, favoring his left leg.

"Enu,"he called, "come here please." His voice was calm but a bit strained.

Enu came to his side and the Doctor pointed to his leg. "I think something bit me." Enu pushed up the Doctor's pant leg and examined the area. Rose stood behind him, peering over his shoulder. There were two distinct punctures just above his left ankle. They were bleeding freely but not heavily.

"Did you see what bit you?" Enu asked.

"No, I was concentrating on Rose."

Rose felt a twinge of guilt at his comment. Enu ran over to the river bank and peered over. Mora had come up behind them and put her arm around Rose. Enu turned back to the group. "I can't see it. How do you feel Doctor?"

"Actually not that bad, considering. It just hurts in the area nowhere else." The pain was actually crawling up his leg but he wasn't willing to admit it. "Shall we continue? I think I'm ok."

Rose leaned in close to his ear. "Is this a superior biology thing, or are you lying?" she whispered.

"Oh definitely the former," he said, springing to his feet. Rose took a moment to look at him, trying to see if he was indeed telling the truth.

She didn't get much of a chance to dwell on it though; the Doctor was on the move, climbing a nearby tree to test out the branches that connected to another tree on the opposite bank. "Up here!" he called. We can get across this way, out of the water!" He climbed along the branches, over the river and onto the beach. The remaining trio looked at each other and shrugged, then followed.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Ok, this is the scary bit. If you don't like to see the Doctor turning into an animal (figuratively) and hurting Rose, skip the parts between the asterisks that go across the page. Remember that the Doctor has been influenced by venom and is not himself. When I read this to my amazing beta girls one had me skip that part and one wanted to hear it. We have to do this to get to the good part later. It's a means to an end people! Hope you have fun with it.**

The hike was much easier after the river crossing. After a bit the Doctor fell behind. He was doing his best not to limp but it was starting to show. Rose slowed her pace to match his.

"Do you need any help?" she asked.

"No"

"Are you sure? We may be able to get a ride from here."

"Yes I am sure!" he snapped. His leg pain had escalated and was burning horribly all the way up. He also felt like he may be getting feverish. The last thing he wanted was to be ill on a strange planet. Why did Rose have to bug him? He knew just what to do. He needed to get back to the TARDIS. Rose fell silent next to him, but didn't leave his side.

When they reached the village the Doctor hastily thanked Enu and Mora and peeled off towards the TARDIS. Rose stayed for a moment to talk to them.

"Thanks a lot; I had fun."

"We did too," Mora answered. "Can you come by tonight? There will be cute boys, food and maybe some boring stuff like singing and dancing. We are the in the blue house with the bright red awning."

Rose laughed. "We'll see, I need to check on mister snippy, but I'll try. It sounds like a lot of fun."

She waved goodbye to her new friends and jogged off to meet up with the Doctor.

When she got into the TARDIS, the Doctor was sitting on the jump seat examining his leg. "How bad is it?" she asked. The Doctor didn't answer.

Rose tried again. "So you've been bitten by a snake. Maybe it was a radioactive snake and you will have super powers."

The Doctor looked up at her. "You mean beyond my normal super powers?" Rose enjoyed his joke and laughed, but noticed he wasn't laughing along with her. He wasn't even smiling.

"I suppose I need to go to the med-bay and clean this up," he said, standing and heading out of the console room.

"Would you like help?"

"No, not particularly, I've done this for 900-odd years by myself and I seem to have lived." He limped down the hall.

Rose stood there and stared at him making his way down the hall. He was never this rude. Well at least he never was without immediately apologizing. Even when he was in pain he was usually pretty nice. She opted to follow him anyway to lend a hand if necessary. If he annoyed her too much, she figured she would leave him and go into town for dinner, leaving him to be crabby.

As she approached the med-bay she heard crashing. She sped up and ran in, only to find the Doctor thrashing around throwing things on the floor. "What's the matter?" she yelled.

He turned on her, his face set in anger. "Is it too much to ask to have what I need when I need it?" he bellowed back.

Rose took a step back. He had surpassed rude and was downright mean. She pointed to the bed and said, "Sit."

To her surprise he did, though rather sulkily. She came over and rolled up his pant leg, looking at the bite. The area of around it was purple and little red streaks could be seen travelling up his leg. "Oh this looks kinda bad. Does it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts," he pulled his leg away from her, "you'd have to be stupid to think it didn't."

She looked at him incredulously. "Really? I'm just trying to help you. The least you can be is nice."

"I'm tired of being nice. I'm always nice, and helpful and caring. What if I don't want to be anymore?"

Rose was stunned. She took a step back from him. "Um, ok, I think I will go now." She turned to go.

"Oh don't be a baby, Rose. What? Can't you handle a little temper? Well you better get used to it, I'm done being nice."

Rose turned on her heel and zipped down the hall to her bedroom. That was the weirdest encounter she had ever had with him. He had never been that mean to her, or to anyone else for that matter. She took off her wet clothes from the hike and hopped in the shower. Maybe he just needed to cool down and rest. She may just make him a quick dinner so he can have the evening in peace and she could go to Mora's.

After she had showered, put on makeup and did her hair she dressed in a cute sparkly vest top and flowy pants. The outfit actually matched her trainers too. It was a little walk to the village so at least she would be comfortable. She had found the outfit at the last market they had stopped at. They had had a great time looking in all the little booths and the Doctor had picked out the pants because he liked the pattern. They were a little flashy for Rose, but he liked them so much she got them. They matched perfectly with the top too. She had just been waiting for a chance to wear them.

She left her room, listening for anything out of sorts, but all was quiet. _He must have calmed down_ she thought, and went to the kitchen to cook the Doctor some spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. She hummed to herself happily as she added herbs to her sauce and picked out some fun wavy noodles rather than regular pasta. She even made garlic bread and a little salad. She stepped back, proud of her domesticity, giggling to herself about how the cooking gene must have skipped her mother when she heard him enter the room.

She turned around with a big grin and said, "Surprise I made your dinner! I figured you must be hungry after all that…" she stopped short. He was hunched over and his suit was disheveled. His hair was even wilder than normal; it even looked like he may have been pulling on it. He looked up at her, his expression almost malicious. "Doctor?"

He took two quick limping steps and was face to face with her. Now that he was closer she could see that his eyes were wild and his face was hard. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable with his closeness. This was new. She normally had no problem with him being nose to nose with her. He just looked so angry. He was breathing hard and sweat dripped down his face. He stared into her eyes, but they were not his.

"Doctor what is the matter? Are you ok?" her voice was smaller now, she was getting scared. She tried to deflect him. " Are you hungry?" He turned and swept all the dishes off the counter onto the floor in one swoop. A lot of it landed on her and her feet.

"What are you doing?" she yelled franticly. In a flash he was back in her face. His cheeks were puffing in and out with each breath. The air was hot and made her uncomfortable. She shifted now, trying to put some space between them but he grabbed her upper arms, hard.

***************Here is the part to skip*****************************************************

"Oww let go!" she screamed but he just held her harder.

"You" he said. His voice chilled her to the bone. It was undoubtedly his voice, but the tone was not his.

"Please, Doctor you're hurting me" she pleaded.

"You…you apes. You think that you are everything. But you have nothing. I have everything. You are such a stupid race, stupid and weak." Rose squirmed in his grasp, she was crying now. She was trying desperately not to, but she couldn't help herself. "Are you going to cry now?" He was even closer to her, his forehead touching hers, his sweat dripping onto her. "Are you gonna go call your mum? Isn't that what you do?"

"What is wrong with you?" she spat out, struggling to get free.

He gripped her even tighter now, she could feel his nails digging in, causing sharp pains. Warm wetness trickled down her arms. She thought it was sweat at first but then realized it was most likely her blood. He took a deep breath through his nose. "I can smell fear you know. I can smell your blood two. I can smell you all the time. I know where you are all the time. You can't get away from me."

Rose started to fight in earnest now. Flinging her body this way and that and kicking. She landed a few kicks on his bad leg and he loosened his grip a bit. With one final surge of force, she brought her knee up and landed it soundly in his groin. He howled in pain and let go. She took off for the door, but slipped on the food on the floor and pitched forward, slamming her chin onto the table. It took a second to recover. She lost her bearings for a moment. She could hear him yelling and cursing in pain and looked over to see him writhing on the floor at her feet.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and scrambled for the doorway. He lunged from his position and managed to grab her ankle and part of her pant leg. She tore away from him, ripping part of the pants off. She could feel his nails scraping her skin as she did so. She made it to the hallway running blindly. He was screaming for her from the kitchen. She ran and ran. When she finally stopped she looked around and actually had no idea where she was. All the doors looked the same. Ideally she would have made it to the console room and out the door but now she was lost. Where should she go? He said he could smell her. There was nowhere to hide.

She could hear him. He must be in the hall now, looking for her. She looked up at the ceiling and whispered, "Please, hide me from him. Please?" the TARDIS hummed and the door on her right popped open. The Doctor was approaching. She could hear his heavy breathing and his limping gait. She slipped in through the door and clicked it shut. She found herself in a little store room. There were unmarked cabinets surrounding her. She ran over and opened one, sliding inside closing it. There was just enough room for her. Just as she did she heard a little exhaust fan start up somewhere close. The TARDIS was sucking her scent out of the room. She caught a whiff of something too. Coffee? Mint? She smiled to herself. The TARDIS was sending out smells to throw the Doctor off.

**OK you can look now **********************************************************************

The fan made it difficult to hear if he was getting close. Then he heard a shriek. "RRROOOOSSSEEE!" he was very close; probably right outside the door. She hugged her knees tightly, afraid to breathe. Then it faded. She still didn't take a full breath. Slowly she sucked in air. She forced herself to take in even breaths. It was hard given the fact that her knees were up in her face. She should try to make a break for it, but there was no telling where he was now. Her best bet may be to hold tight until whatever it was overtook him and he couldn't come after her.

She took a moment to think about what happened. She rubbed her arms. They were sticky with her blood. She had no idea that his nails were even able to do that must damage. Her ankle smarted too. He must have taken out a chunk of skin there too. Gently her felt her chin. It was bloody too. She must have cut it open when she hit it on the table. It was definitely bruised. Her teeth seemed all intact though. What could have caused this? She didn't think he even had all that in him. Was it the snake bite? Did it trigger some primal anger? Was this anger that he always had but just suppressed and the venom let it out? She remembered his eyes. They were not the eyes of the man she had been with, the man she adored. These were cold, hard and…red? Wait…she concentrated on her image of his eyes. They were very bloodshot. She didn't think about it at the time. That was something.

She had to get out. She had to find a cure. He was limping so badly that he had to be getting worse. It was hard to believe that a snakebite could do this. Maybe it was a mixture of a strange snake and his alien blood. She rested her head back and closed her eyes. It was quiet now. The letdown from the initial escape hit her hard. She opted to close her eyes for a few minutes, feeling relatively safe now that the TARDIS was hiding her.

She didn't know how long she slept. She woke with a terrible cramp in her leg. She opened the cabinet door and stretched. There was no sound and she breathed a sigh of relief. Carefully she climbed out. It took a while to be able to lie flat because her muscles all tightened. She got to her feet and peeked out the door into the hallway. He wasn't there. In the distance she could hear occasional clanking and crashing. At least she would know where he was. "Which way to the console room?" she asked out loud. The TARDIS hummed down the hall in the direction of the noise.

"Wonderful," she breathed. That meant that she would need to get past him to get out. That would not be easy.


	3. Chapter 3

Rose crept down the hallway towards the noise. She silently slipped into her bedroom to grab her jacket and to fill a bag with a few things. Should she have to stay away she wasn't going to be caught unprepared. She locked the door behind her to be sure she was safe. She stuffed clothes and a few personal and hygiene items into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

She approached the console room without making a sound. Thankfully her trainers were old enough that they did not squeak on the floor. She peered slowly around the doorway into the console room. There was still loud clanging and banging coming from inside, as well as something else. Growling, there were definite growls coming from behind the console. Rose caught sight of movement. To her horror she saw the Doctor flinging parts of the console around. It looked like he was digging underneath and pulling out wires and tubes.

He focused on his destruction and Rose was able to scramble to hide behind various coral struts. He didn't notice her at all. At one point she was able to get a pretty good vantage point so she could get a good look at him. He had taken off his suit jacket and button down shirt. He wore only a torn white undershirt on top. He still had his trousers on, but his effected leg was hugely swollen. He didn't stand on it and it was obviously straining the seams of the garment. His shoe was off too, she could see that his foot was purple.

He growled and yelled, but it was all unintelligible. It briefly reminded her a rabid wolverine on a nature show. He stopped for a moment, holding onto the top of the console, his chest heaving. She could see him clearly now. His hair was matted but sticking out in all directions, face dirty. She leaned a little closer; something else was on his face, something running down his cheeks. Were those tears? Undoubtedly they were; streaming down from his eyes, wet lines, soaking the collar of his t-shirt. She let out a quiet sigh, and he turned his head and looked right at her.

She dashed for the door. She could hear him moving to intercept, but she was too fast and he was not able to maneuver around his grossly swollen leg. She glanced back to see him. He had fallen to the floor, reaching for her. "Rose…" he uttered. Then she shut the door and ran.

Dawn was breaking when she reached the village. Mora had told her that she lived in the blue house with the red awning. It was hard to see the colors in the dim dawn hours. She wandered around for a while before she found it. There were two pairs of well-worn hiking boots outside. Rose recognized them as Mora and Enu's boots.

She went up to the door, took a deep breath and knocked loudly. "Mora?" she called, "It's Rose. Something's wrong." She heard rustling inside the house. After a few moments fabric was pulled back from the window for a second, then the door opened. Enu stood there with a confused look on his face.

"Rose what's the matter?" He was in sleeping clothes.

"Oh thank God, Enu, something is wrong with the Doctor. He has turned into something. He's like an animal. He… he hurt me, now he's tearing apart our ship."

"Come in," he said, opening the door.

Rose sat on a soft chair in the living room. Mora came in and sat next to her while Rose told the story. A tall man also joined them. He looked just like Enu but older. He must be their father.

Mora held her hands while Rose explained. It struck her that no one seemed particularly surprised at her story. Finally as she finished, the older man spoke. "Rose, I am Stal. Did anyone see the snake that bit him?" Everyone shook their heads. He continued, "There is a snake, indigenous to the area that could cause what you are explaining. It's called a lukkur. It causes an initial hormonal surge that raises aggression and anxiety. Some of the effected even slip into madness. I've never heard of it being this severe though. "

"He's not normal. He reacts differently than most people to everything. Mostly things don't affect him as much as others, but occasionally he has worse reactions." Rose sighed and Mora held her close.

Stal looked sadly at Rose. "It's a bit of a gamble, treating him without knowing what bit him. The treatment may not work at all or may even make him worse."

Rose stood to face him. "We need to try. He's so sick. Please."

Stal turned to Enu. "Go wake Loor and explain what is happening and that you need a tranquilizer. I'll set up a way to administer it." He looked back at Rose. "Loor is our doctor. He has treated other-worlders before for the same problem. He will help us. Mora, go get the tranquilizer gun, I need to prepare it."

Rose stared at him. "You sound like this has happened before."

He looked back at her sullenly. "Yes and there have not always been the greatest of outcomes."

Mora took Rose into the kitchen to clean and dress her wounds. She talked the whole time, a constant banter of stories of her friends and little adventures that she and her brother had been on. Rose listened but didn't feel like talking. She figured Mora was trying to break the tension and let her. After Rose was all bandaged up, Mora cooked a large breakfast for everyone. Rose wasn't hungry but managed to eat a few bites.

A group of men and women assembled in the kitchen after a while. In this world it was obvious that the sexes were very equal. The group dressed as if they were going to a fight. Everyone wore leather jackets and vests with various types of ammunition were slung across their chests. Mora caught the trepidation on Rose's face and leaned in. "Don't worry. They tend to overdress. Their intention is to take him down as peacefully as possible. Most of the guns and such fire rubber bullets or nets." Rose nodded in response, relieved but only a little.

Stal and the others sat and wrote up a plan of attack, asking a lot of questions of Rose about access to the TARDIS, where they thought he may be and how to find him. It became clear early on the Rose would need to go in with them in order to find him. When the plan was finished, Mora took Rose into her room and helped her dress for the mission. They were nearly the same size so it worked out. When she came out to face the rest of the assembly she felt like she was headed into war. It was a really unsettling feeling. Mora did not give her any ammunition or a weapon, which she was grateful for. It did feel rather like she was in a suit of armor though. The pants and jacket were thick and heavy and rather hot. She stepped back into the kitchen and Stal turned and smiled kindly at her.

"Ready?" he asked. His voice no longer held the urgency it had only minutes ago. She could tell that he was a father under everything and he didn't want anyone to be hurt. Stal looked back at Mora."Can you get her a cover for her face please? It's important that the Doctor not be able to see that she is there. It would put her in more danger." Mora nodded and ran out of the room, only to come back a few seconds later with a soft black scarf like garment that she wrapped around Rose's head and neck, only letting her eyes show. She topped it off with a knit cap to hide her hair.

Mora patted her on the top of the head. "You look glamourous my dear."

"Oh yes" Rose agreed.

"You're going to be great Rose," Mora whispered, as the group started talking again. "My father is the best, he will help you get him and then cure him."

"Promise?" Rose whispered back.

"Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"I've only known you for a day."

"But I like my record so far!" Mora hugged Rose.

The group filed out of the kitchen and Rose led them the short way to the TARDIS. The plan was to have her give her key to Stal, who would enter first, followed by the initial attack team. Once the console room was cleared, Rose would help them search for him. She was hoping she would not have to take them that deep into the TARDIS, it would be too hard to explain. She just told them not to be taken aback by the size of the inside of her ship, but she knew they would be. Everyone was.

They reached the TARDIS and Rose put her ear to the door. It was quiet. He must have gone to another area. She gave Stal the key and stood back as the team readied themselves. He opened the door and they all charged in.

Rose stood in the doorway watching. The inside of the TARDIS was dimly lit. He must have done more damage than she thought. The team was rapidly advancing but stopped a few feet away from something on the floor. Rose gasped as she realized it was the crumpled figure of the Doctor. One of the men reached out with his weapon and poked him on his shoulder. Instantly the Doctor lashed out like an animal, grabbing the weapon from the man and hurling it across the room. The team stepped back in unison and Stal took aim with his gun. The Doctor lunged out again, just as Stal fired and the dart hit the Doctor in the chest. The team retreated even more while the Doctor shrieked and growled. He never stood or walked. He looked like a wounded bear in a trap.

When the Doctor didn't go unconscious within a few moments, Stal fired again, this time hitting him in the abdomen. Another in the group fired a big gun in his direction which shot out a big net. It must have been sticky because the Doctor quickly got tangled up in it. His screams were gut wrenching unlike anything Rose had ever heard.

The Doctor was still struggling in the net when Rose approached. The crowd parted as she walked up. She stood there looking down at him. He was clawing and biting at the net and at anyone close. She stepped forward and he paused for a moment. Carefully she unwrapped her scarf and lifted her hat, revealing her face. He looked up at her for a moment, eyes still bloodshot. A grimace grew on his face, and he lunged again, almost knocking her over before the net stopped him. His fingers were straining through the holes in the net. He could almost reach her. His teeth gnashed and he screeched and howled. Strong hands pulled Rose away and to the back of the group where someone wrapped her head again and put on her hat. When she peeked around the group again he was quiet and laid there in a heap. The tranquilizers had started to work. Warm arms embraced her and she realized Mora had joined her. She took in a deep breath and started to sob.


	4. Chapter 4

Stal and his group picked up the Doctor and set him on the back of a small vehicle and drove him back to the village. Mora guided Rose back to her house. Rose was gobsmacked. She had held out hope that he was in there somewhere and would recognize her. Seeing her only made him react worse. Coupled with Stal's grim talk about how he could not change at all or get worse, she felt empty and numb. Now that things had calmed down and he was in the infirmary his words from yesterday rang clearly in her ears.

Mora set Rose on her bed and picked out an outfit for her to change into. She chose a short sleeved garment then also a tunic to go over it to cover her upper arms. After Rose changed, Mora examined Rose's chin. In her haste before she only stuck a plaster on Rose's chin and wanted to look at it again.

Rose sat silently on the bed. She was tired of crying and just tired in general. Mora went on and on about how she wanted to finish classes to be a guide and a medic. She loved being outside and she liked helping people so it was a good fit.

"Um Rose," Mora started, "this cut is worse than I thought. You will need stitches. It may be too late now though, I don't know. Can I take you to the infirmary so they can look at it? It keeps wanting to re-open so they need to do something." She paused for a moment when Rose didn't answer. "No really, it's deep, I think I can see your brain."

Rose finally cracked a smile. "Really, through my mouth hand everything?"

"You have a big brain." Both girls laughed now and they headed out to the infirmary.

"Mora?"Rose said as they approached the building minutes later.

"Yeah Rose?"

"I don't want to see him while I'm here."

"OK, you don't have to."

"Is Loor a good doctor?"

"He's the best. He came from a big city and he was this huge accomplished surgeon with tons of patients. He came here to get away for a few days and went hiking. While he was here we had a rock slide and a whole hiking party was covered. He helped with the rescue efforts and since he was the only surgeon for miles and miles he worked on the survivors. He ended up staying for two weeks or so. When he finished, he realized how much he loved it here and my father convinced him to stay. We needed a doctor anyway; ours was old and needed to retire. And now we have the best."

Stal had delivered the Doctor to the infirmary. It was more like a hospital really. Loor saw to it that it had modern medicine and even a small surgical suite.

Loor went to work quickly. His nurses were highly skilled to. They cut him out of the net, restrained his arms and legs, started IVs and prepared for the antivenin to arrive. They had to repeatedly sedate him, as he metabolized the medicines very quickly. The Doctor almost bit one of the nurses during the process. Loor had heard the Doctor's symptoms and had called ahead to have the antivenin shipped up from the city. It arrived about a half hour after the Doctor. It was immediately set up and soon was rhythmically dripping in, hung alongside an IV bag.

When the Doctor was situated and sedated Loor went in to talk to Rose. "I hear that I need to look at your chin."

"Yes" Rose replied shyly.

"What happened?"

"I hit it when… when I was trying to get away from, um , him."

"Let me take a look." He tilted her head back and removed the plaster, separating the skin a little to get a better look. "Well, it's a little later than I would prefer to do this, but Mora is right. If I don't get it to hold together it may leave a huge scar. How about we stitch it just in case?"

Rose wanted to say that she would just go back to the TARDIS and let the Doctor heal it with the dermal regenerator. This wasn't the case anymore. Just the thought of him being up next to her face made her cringe. The memory of feeling of his hot, sweaty forehead on hers was still terrifying. She shuttered a little. They had always been able to be close without a problem. Now it made her sick and scared.

"You OK?" It was Loor. He was coming at her with a little light. She jumped back a little. "It's alright; I'm just looking into your eyes just because you hit your chin so hard. That's a good way to get a concussion." He shined in the light, and when done had her lay back to work on her chin.

It took a few stitches to close it up. When he was done, a nurse stuck on a large plaster. The whole process hadn't been too bad, except for the fact that she had a large, dark bruise in the area. Loor also had her take off her tunic to examine her arms then later her ankle. The nurses put on fresh bandages and walked her out. Mora was in the lead but stopped just short of one of the doors.

"Is this where he is?" Rose asked, biting her thumbnail.

"Yes" Mora blocked her way.

"Is he awake?"

Mora peered into the room. "No."

"Can I see?"

"You told me you didn't want to."

"I know, but he is asleep so he can't come after me."

"Plus he is restrained plus my father's in there, so yeah, no, he's not going to get anywhere near you."

Mora stepped away so Rose could look in the room. The Doctor was laying there, his swollen, purple leg exposed but otherwise he was covered with a blanket. Two big bags of fluid hung at his head. One was clear and the other was yellow. He twitched a little in his sleep and Rose jumped back into Mora.

"Rose, it's going to be ok."

"Is it? You didn't see him. It was horrible. I…I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Well I know what to do. Let's go back to my house. I'll cook and you'll tell me stories about cute boys from- wait where are you from again?"

"Earth"

"Yeah, cute boys from Earth. Then I can tell you wonderful tales of my highly exciting, completely nonexistent love life here."

Rose knew what Mora was doing. She was trying to get Rose away and thinking about something else. Mora had her work cut out for her though. Rose was stranded on a planet with a man who had hunted her, a man she couldn't trust or be around anymore and all she wanted to do was go home.

The Doctor stirred. He heard murmuring around him. Voices saying, "He's awake again" and "Be ready with the sedation." Without opening his eyes he took stock in his situation. His left leg felt like it was on fire. The pain was excruciating. His other limbs were mildly painful at the wrists and ankle and they felt tied down. This wasn't the first time he woke tied up, but this was the first time that he didn't remember why.

He tried to open his eyes. It was more difficult than he thought. He figured that his face must be swollen. Again he had no idea why. There was also eye discharge stuck in his lashes and gluing them together.

A voice spoke up close to his ear. "I can help you open your eyes if you promise not to bite me."

What? Why would he bite someone? He went to speak, realizing that his throat was very dry and sore. "I won't bite you."

Someone put a warm wash cloth on his eyes and gently wiped away the crust, allowing him to open them a little. He was in what looked like a hospital room. Bright lights shone on him and there were at least five people standing around. They looked like they may be holding guns. No one spoke so he asked, "Where am I?"

A figure spoke up, voice gruff, "What do you remember?"

"WHERE AM I?" his voice was strained and rather squeaky when he raised it.

The figures stepped closer to him. No one drew a weapon but each of them had their hands on one. This sign of aggression made the Doctor back off. He was in no position to fight and would need to take a different tack.

"Sorry, I um, was on a planet with my friend. I remember that I had been bitten by something, maybe a snake and I wasn't feeling well. Hold on, where is Rose?"

"Rose is safe," another voice answered. It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Can someone tell me what is happening? Please, I honestly don't know. Is something wrong? Is Rose here?"

One of the bright lights that had been on him turned off so he could see the people in the room. He recognized Enu, and there was another man who looked like an older version of the young man. They all looked like they were going into battle. All of them looked tired.

"Enu? What's happening?" the Doctor was pleading now.

Enu looked at the other man who must have been his father, who nodded. The younger man spoke up, "Um you had a reaction to the snake venom. You…um… it was a really bad reaction. You got very angry, then violent. Then you started acting like," he paused, clearing his throat, "you started acting like an animal."

"I did?" He thought for a moment, seeing flashes of Rose, crying and running. "Oh my god what did I do?"

The other man stepped up. "I am Stal, Enu and Mora's father. Rose ran to us after it happened. She says you came after her. You wounded her and hunted her. Then you did damage to your ship. We captured you and brought you here. "

The Doctor's mouth fell open. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "I did what?" He closed his eyes; images of last night now rushing in. "Is Rose, um, is Rose alright?"

"She's with Mora. I'll be honest with you. You hurt her, but she's going to be ok."

The Doctor sighed, he pulled up his hand to rub is face but remembered it was attached. "Can I see her?"

"No," Stal answered, his voice grave. "I spoke with Mora a little bit ago. Rose said she doesn't want to see you. She was here briefly, but now she wants to stay away. I don't blame her."

"Stal, I'm ok now. That reaction I had is gone. I mean, I still fell a bit aggravated but who wouldn't? I can't even scratch my nose. Can you at least free my arms?"

"All in due time. When you prove you are not going to be a danger to us we will see you get to move more. The treatment for the snake venom will take at least another day. You can't leave until then anyway."

The Doctor closed his eyes. He wasn't sleepy, he just wanted an out. He could only pull up images of what happened. No one but Rose knew the whole story. And she didn't want to see him. His hearts sank. How could he have hurt her? Not his Rose, not someone he cared for.


	5. Chapter 5

Rose and Mora spent the evening together gossiping and talking. Their conversations were easy, the similarities between cultures made it all the more fun. It had been too long since Rose had had someone her age to be around. Mora thought like her too, which made even better. Having someone distract her was also immensely helpful.

Rose helped in the dinner preparation as the evening wound down. She found out that Mora and Enu's mother had died just after Mora was born and they had been raised by their father. That was why they were such good guides. They had accompanied their father on hundreds of trips.

Just as they finished cooking Stal and Enu came in. Stal approached Rose. "He's awake. I think the anti-venin worked. He is much calmer. I left some people there to watch him. He's restrained still and will be until we deem him to be non-violent. So far he looks good though. He asked about you."

Rose looked at the ground. "Did you tell him everything? I mean what he did and all?" her thumbnail had found its way to her mouth.

"Yes I did. He still wants to see you though. He all but begged. I told him no. Is that alright?"

"Yes. I can't even think about it right now, maybe tomorrow." She turned back to Mora. "It still freaks me out a lot. I'm not ready to see him."

That night, Rose slept on Mora's floor. The companionship went a long way to dampen her anxiety. That was, until she fell asleep. In her dreams she relived all of it including the pain and the fear. The worst of it was his face, so close when he had grabbed her, then so horrible after he had been captured. She woke up in a cold sweat and shivered for an hour before the sun came up. When Mora woke, Rose was sitting against the wall with her knees to her chest. Just as she had described being in the cabinet. It took Mora an hour to calm her down.

After breakfast Rose and Mora walked with Stal to the infirmary for an update. It was warm out and Rose opted not to wear the tunic. The steady conversation on the walk over stalled when they entered the building. Stal went ahead to find Loor, leaving the girls to stand nervously in the hallway.

Stal came back with Loor. The Doctor was apparently sleeping, so they all stood outside his door getting the update. Rose had peeked in briefly, but couldn't watch long before she got nervous.

Loor addressed them,"He's stable. The anti-venin is nearly all in. He's responding well to it. The swelling in his leg has gone down somewhat too. I anticipate being able to let him out in a day or two."

There was a groan from inside the room and Rose jumped behind Mora. Then she straightened up and leaned against the wall, trying to look like she had not just reacted the way she did.

"Maybe we should go," Mora said, taking Rose by the hand. Stal and Loor agreed.

They went to the exit that did not require her to walk in front of his door.

Inside the room a nurse was with the Doctor as he blinked awake. "Good morning! How are you feeling?"

The Doctor didn't answer, but turned his head towards the window at his bedside. The nurse hustled over and pulled back the shade, allowing sunlight to flood into the room; just as she did that, two girls walked by arm in arm. He instantly recognized Rose and Mora. His hearts skipped a beat, but then he was hit by the realization that Rose had her arms and chin bandaged. She also had bruises from her chin to her cheeks. This was what he had done to her.

It was the him that wasn't him, but it happened by his hand. He rested his head back. A tear escaped his eye. What had he done? Could he ever get Rose back?

Rose felt a familiar humming as she stepped into the TARDIS. It was cool inside, and she could smell oil and some of the fluids that ran inside the tubes under and around the console. She glanced briefly at the damage he had caused, but turned away, opting to go to her room. Mora had offered her a guest room in their house for a few days. Rose gathered up a few things and dropped off a few more, including the pants she had on that first night. She took out the torn garment and draped it on the back of her chair with a sigh. There was blood on the leg near the tear.

She had promised to teach Mora the wonders of a pedicure and packed up her favorite pink sparkly nail polish as well as a few others. She looked around the room. Even though so much had changed, it all looked the same. She saw a picture on her bedside table of her and the Doctor posing with silly hats at a market. They both were making crazy faces. She remembered that day fondly; but when she looked at the picture she got a cold chill. She reached out and put the picture face down on the table. On second thought, she opened the drawer just below it, slid it in and closed it.

Loor entered the Doctor's room around noon. He lay with his eyes closed, not moving. His arms and right leg were still restrained. The Doctor had stopped hoping for them to be removed and merely accepted that the others were protecting themselves from his perceived menace. Loor approached the bed and began to untie his arms. The Doctor opened his eyes and looked at him, not saying anything. Loor spoke, "I guess I should have done this earlier, but it was just a precaution. Sometimes the effects of the venom can last after the anti-venin has been started.

The Doctor rubbed his face and hair then rested back. "Am I nearly done here?"

"Close to it, as far as our treatment is concerned. I started you on an antibiotic just in case. It's going in your IV right now but we can switch to an oral preparation soon. The anti-venin treatment should be done this afternoon. I'm a little concerned with your leg still though. The swelling has gone down, but you'll need to stay off of it for a few days. Walking on it will be very painful and may cause tissue damage."

"So you're saying I can go home this afternoon maybe?"

"I'd really like you to stay another day, but yes I suppose. Do you have medical supplies in your ship?" He had moved down and was taking the restraint of the Doctor's right leg.

"Yes, I'm…we're well set up."

Loor sighed, reaching over and releasing the lever on the head of the bed, allowing the Doctor to sit up. "That is another matter entirely." They both knew that he was talking about Rose.

"Is she ok? I mean really. Please don't sugar coat anything. I've seen her. I know I hurt her; in more ways than one."

"Medically she will heal just fine. I can't speak to what is happening psychologically. I know that every time she has seen you or heard you for that matter, she has been jumpy and exhibits classic signs of anxiety. My only advice is to take it slow. You have a lot of rebuilding to do. "

"Yeah…"

"So you will be signing out tonight?"

"I think so."

"I'll make the arrangements."

"Thank you. Just one question; what was I wearing when I came in?"

"A white shirt and brown pants."

The Doctor breathed out heavily. "I need to ask a favor. I don't have a key to my ship, Rose does. I don't imagine she will want to drop it off. Can you help with that?"

"I will see that you get the key."

Meanwhile, Rose was teaching Mora proper cuticle care. Rose lined up four bottles of polish on the desk to choose from. "Ooooh," said Mora, perusing her options. "I like the pink sparkly one. Can we use that on my fingers too?"

"Sure! That's the Doctor's favorite too. He thinks it looks like this kind of taffy he once was given. He even went so far as to try to taste it in the bottle before I stopped him. He used to look in every candy shop wherever we went, trying to find some to show me, but we have never found any. Then," she continued, laughing, "he insisted on painting my toenails because it would be a travesty if I messed it up and the polish was wasted!"

Mora stared, open mouthed, at her. "What?" asked Rose, equally as confused. Then she realized she had been rambling about him, looked down and blushed.

"Tell me about him. I need to know what he is when he is him. Has he ever been like this before?"

"You mean an animal? No, he has always been kind and sensitive." She shivered a little. "When he had grabbed me I looked into his eyes. It was him, but wasn't at the same time. Like someone else was driving. Later when I was able to run out he was crying. I've been travelling with him for a really long time. I've seen his temper before but usually only aimed at someone who was hurting someone else. This was different. It wasn't anger; it was like he was wild or something."

"That's the venom. It does that to people. I've seen it before, just not this bad. Still, now that he is better can you go back?"

"I keep wondering that. I can't clear it from my head. I know in my heart this was a one-time thing, but it still hurts. I really don't know if what he said is truly what he thinks."

"Can you tell me some more? I would love to hear about other people on other worlds. Especially since I don't get out much." Rose smiled and began to weave tales of their travels. She left out very little, mostly the parts about regeneration. Mora was especially interested in the cat nurses at the hospital and the Slitheen family. Rose painted Mora's fingernails while she spoke.

"Rose, it sounds like you two really have fun together. "

"I know," she said quietly.

There was a knock on the bedroom door and Rose got up to answer it, Mora sat there with her fingers up in the air, drying. It was Stal. "Loor just came by. The Doctor will be released tonight but he said he needs a key. "

"I'll take it" said Mora.


	6. Chapter 6

Rose and Mora walked over to the infirmary together but Rose stayed outside. After getting a lecture on how not to muck up her nails and getting the key from around Rose's neck, Mora went in. Since the conversation she had just had with Rose she had felt like she needed to see him for herself again. She walked into his room just as he was finishing his dinner. He was sitting up in bed drinking the last of some juice.

"Hello Mora," he said, setting down the glass.

"I have the key. Can you put a rock in the door or something so she can get in if she needs to?"

"Of course." He had a calm or perhaps a bit of a shy look on his face, but was looking intently at Mora, as if he was waiting for something.

Mora was looking back at him just the same way. "What?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"I needed to see you myself…again. I wanted to see what she sees in you."

The Doctor blinked. He was at a complete loss for words.

"Are you still… an animal?" she finally asked.

"No," he looked down at his lap, "does she know it wasn't me?"

"I think so."

"Can you tell her thanks for me? For the key I mean?"

"Oh…yes of course." She set it down on the tray table to his side.

He looked at her hand and a warm yet small smile played on his lips. "I always liked that nail polish."

Mora smiled a little also and put her hand behind her back, embarrassed. "She'll be staying with me for a few days I think." Mora was stepping towards the door.

"OK" was all he said.

Had he looked out the window at that very moment he would have been delighted to see that Rose was peeking in watching them. Instead he felt a wave of regret and worry and promptly rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his lap again.

Loor came back in soon after to make sure he was OK to be discharged. "If you feel anything, I mean anything is wrong you come right back. Is that clear?"

"Crystal"

"I think I'm going to send you with crutches. I really don't want you to step on that leg for at least a day. Stal has volunteered to take back in his vehicle. I hope you'll take him up on it."

"Ordinarily I'd say no, but given the circumstances I'll take the ride."

Loor handed the Doctor the antibiotic pills to take and some cream to soothe his leg, helped him back into his clothes and up on the crutches. Soon the Doctor was outside loading himself into Stal's four wheeler.

The ride home was quiet. Stal was not a talkative man and the Doctor was grateful to not have to prove himself as non-violent. They arrived at the TARDIS and the Doctor thanked Stal and hobbled inside.

This was the first time he had seen the damage. The visions and nightmares he had gave him no indication of the destruction. The console was almost destroyed, wires and tubes were strewn all about the room. Fluids leaked through the grating down to the lower deck, and the lights were very low. He surveyed what he had done and began to feel dizzy. He sat down hard on the jump seat, head in his hands. If he had done this to his TARDIS, no wonder Rose wanted nothing to do with him. He couldn't fathom what state he must have been in and how scared she must have been.

With a heavy sigh he went back down to the door, blocked it open with a piece of broken console, and then headed off to his bedroom. On the way he stopped at Rose's room he carefully hung her key on the doorknob. As he did, the door creaked open. He could see the inside but was relieved to see she wasn't there. His eyes fell on a pair of pants that he recognized that were hanging on a chair. He remembered that they had been shopping together and he had picked them out for her. He smiled thinking how she had resisted and he had told her to live a little. Then his eyes wandered to the end of the pant leg. There was a large tear with a dark stain. He hopped in through the door to get a closer look before he realized that the substance was blood; Rose's blood. He felt sick and fell painfully to his knees. Ragged breaths eventually led to slow deep ones as he slowly began to compose himself, heft himself up, finally turning and moving towards his own room, hearts heavy in his chest.

The next morning Rose came to the startling revelation that she had no tea. Mora and her family drank something that was like coffee but more bitter. It wasn't really to Rose's liking. "Mora, I'm doing to run over to our ship for a few minutes for tea. I have to culture you properly. I'll get some traditional English food too. I'll be right back."

Mora stepped into the kitchen. "Are you sure?"

"I have amazing powers of stealth. He'll never see me."

"You know you will eventually have to talk to him; especially if you want him to take you home."

"I'm not ready yet. It's all too fresh."

"I know." Mora put her arms around her friend.

When Rose got to the TARDIS she found a piece of the console holding the door open. She peeked in, and when she found the room empty she slipped in and closed the door. She made her way to her room to throw some clothes in the laundry chute only to find the door wide open and her key hanging on the handle. She stepped in quickly and locked the door behind her.

She grabbed fresh clothes and stuffed them into her bag as well as a few books and fashion magazines to show Mora. She then silently opened her door, checking the hall and ran into the kitchen to collect the tea and the food.

She opened the cupboards without a sound and put several teabags in a little plastic bag as well as eggs and toast and scones. She was just finishing when she heard a clicking sound and a rustling of clothes behind her. She stiffened, hands placed on the counter, not turning around.

The Doctor stood in the doorway. "Hi" he murmured, just his voice low, just above a whisper. Rose did not move, tightness evident in her shoulders.

It took everything she had not to scream and bolt. It was not lost on her that this was the exact same situation she had been in when he had initially attacked. She felt tears stinging her eyes and blinked. She started breathing faster and was getting a bit light headed. She started to shake a little and made fists to stop it. Her composure was dissolving quickly and she deeply regretted coming here.

"Rose," he started again, "can we talk?"

She gathered herself as much as possible and turned to face him. He had changed into his blue suit coat and red shirt. On the bottom he wore pyjama bottoms and had a trainer only on his good leg. The swollen leg only wore a sock. He was leaning on crutches also. Normally she would have laughed at his fashion choices but now she did not even remotely find them funny. His face was soft, such a difference from the last face he gave her. It seemed so long ago.

She crossed her arms in front of her, unconsciously covering her bandages, even though they were under her shirt. She still had a plaster on her chin and bruises on her jaw line. It made his stomach sink. He watched her examining him, and waited, not moving. He noticed her shaking and wanted nothing else but to embrace her and tell her that it would be alright. He squeezed his crutches a little harder instead.

"I am so sorry Rose. It wasn't me," he still had his voice low, and she stared at him blankly.

He tried again. "Can I do anything for you? I mean anything, really." She looked him up and down but remained silent.

He shifted a little bit in the doorway and she flinched. He jumped back, overcompensating for her reaction and nearly fell over. He ended up having to step on his bad leg and bit back a yell of pain. He situated himself after a moment or two and looked back to her. She hadn't moved.

He sighed and dropped his head. "We will eventually need to talk about this. I know you don't want to now. But can you say something?" he was talking to his feet now, "Anything?"

"I want to go home."

"Permanently?" he lifted his head to look back at her.

"I don't know."

"I..um…h-h-have to fix the TARDIS. I did a lot of damage w-when I was… you know… not me."

"OK" she grabbed up her bag and looked back to him. "I need to go," her voice was a little stronger now, but still not the confident one he was used to. He backed out of the doorway, giving her plenty of space. She all but ran around the corner and down the hall without another word.


	7. Chapter 7

A few days passed and the Doctor saw Rose on and off, but mostly off. He would be working on the console and she would sneak past, or he would see a shadow down the hall and hear her bedroom door shut and lock. Every time it happened it felt like someone was pounding a nail in his hearts. He was diligently working on the TARDIS though; he knew that needed to be able to show Rose that he was trying.

Rose went to Mora's every day, even accompanying them on short guide trips. She was learning a lot and the hikes made her feel good. Mora's friend Keva came along too. Rose thought he was good looking, but she noticed that he actually had eyes for Mora, not her. Mora was too busy playing matchmaker to see though.

One morning Rose approached Mora about Keva. "He is really cute but I think he likes someone else."

"Who?"

"Oh my god you can be so clueless. This happens when girls are raised around men. Your radar gets turned off. Keva likes you!"

Mora swallowed. "No way. Did he tell you?"

"Not in so many words, but he can't keep his eyes off of you. How can you not see it?"

"I guess I wasn't looking." Mora looked thoughtful for a few moments.

Stal came in then. "Mora, I just got a last minute request for two day overnight trip starting tomorrow. Enu is going out today and I am booked for one also. Can you do it? You can take Keva I guess, he's coming along well in his training. " He stopped when he looked at Rose. Mora was looking at her too.

Rose spoke up, "Don't worry about me. You have more important things to do. I think taking Keva would be a great idea." Her eyes got really big when she said it and Stal couldn't see her face. Mora laughed.

"I'll take the job." She pulled Rose aside as Stal went to contact the hiking group. "Rose, I need to know you will be ok."

"I'll be fine. I didn't tell you, but we talked. Well actually he talked mostly. I told him I wanted to go home and he told me he had to fix the ship. He's been working on it. I can totally get around in there and never have to talk to him. I'll be fine."

"But you need to talk to him. You can't leave this wound open. It'll tear you up."

"I'll think about it. But first I have important business to attend to. You need a manicure." Mora squealed with glee and ran to get the polish.

Rose went back to the TARDIS the in the morning when Mora left on her trip. She had received a warning from Mora, who had pointed a finger at her and said, "Talk to the man." Then Rose responded by saying that orders don't count if one is being pointed at by a finger with pink sparkly nail polish.

When Rose entered she found the console room empty. There were tools and parts strewn about everywhere but the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. Rose took the opportunity to run to her bedroom. She locked herself in as usual and went about showering and putting away laundry and generally cleaning up. It was making for a productive day when her stomach rudely intervened and growled. "Ohhh I need chips!" she exclaimed to no one in particular. She opened her door then tip toed to the kitchen to cook.

Since she hadn't heard him moving around she figured she had a little time to cook and get back. She knew he had seen her around lately and hadn't attempted to talk so she felt confident she would be left alone. There was a special potato cutter that made perfect chips in one of the cabinets. She retrieved it and went about her work. She cut a large pile of potatoes and had readied the oil for frying. The smell as she cooked the first batch was amazing. She had missed it. She sighed a little knowing that it was just one more thing she had shared with the Doctor that she probably wouldn't do again.

She had brought in a magazine to keep her busy waiting for the chips to cook. There was a very interesting article about the feuding fashion models on a beach planet. She was deep into the text when she heard a WHOOSH. She inadvertently had turned up the oil too hot and it flashed. Hot oil was burning everywhere. It caught the front of the cabinet and several towels on fire too. Rose shrieked and jumped back. There was a flash of brown and she was pushed to the side. A puff of white enveloped the grease fire and it went out quickly. Only when the smoke settled did Rose realize that the Doctor had swooped in and used a fire extinguisher.

She was up against the wall staring at the scene. He turned around suddenly, startling her. "Are you OK Rose?"

"Yeah" she was still a little stunned. "The oil caught on fire. Sorry."

"I'm just glad you are OK." He sat in a chair. Rose realized that he no longer had his crutches and was back in his brown suit including the trousers. His left leg was still bigger than his right, but not too bad. He even was able to wear both trainers, though the left one was laced very loosely.

"Are you better?" she stood rooted on the spot but felt compelled to say something after leaving so abruptly last time.

He smiled. "Yeah, I'm still slow but I'm getting around much better, thank you. I've made huge strides in my repairs too. It won't be long now."

Rose nodded and looked down at the floor. She had run out of things to say.

"Rose…" She didn't look up at him.

"Rose can you look at me?" She lifted her head to face him.

"You do know it wasn't me, right?"

"Yes" she replied, chewing her bottom lip.

"I don't have enough words to tell you how sorry I am." He looked so defeated. There were huge dark bags under his eyes and his hair actually laid down on his head rather than being spiked up.

"You look tired."

"Don't worry about me; I want to make sure you are OK."

"I'm fine."

"Rose, really, I can't remember much, but what I do remember was awful. It kills me that it happened. You have to know that I had no idea what I was doing."

Rose stepped forward now, face hard. "You didn't? How can that be? What you were saying sounded pretty lucid to me. You insulted me and humans in general. It was very real. All that stuff about us being stupid and weak apes. You've said it before, you know. Of course I believed you."

The Doctor hung his head again. "That wasn't the case. I'd never hurt you on purpose, Rose. I would have said anything to anyone at that point. You were just there. It pulled out the worst things it could from me. Please, I don't know what else to say. I can't go on like this. You mean too much to me for me to ever want to hurt you."

"But you did."

"I wasn't me. I was turning into an animal. I had no conscious thought. If I would have even had a shred of sense I would have stopped. Can you just believe me?"

Rose took a hard look at him. His face was sullen, he looked dejected and so sad. He made her sad just looking at him. Her anger and fear wavered a little.

"OK"

"OK what?" He looked at her hopefully.

"OK I'll try. You hurt me… a lot. I truly thought I would never be able to forgive you. I know that it wasn't you doing and saying those things, but it still hurt. I don't want to be near you but I won't run away anymore. I still want to go home though. I need time to heal."

"Thank you. I promise to give you all the space you need. I'll be there if you need me." He stood, making no effort to get close to her, and turned to leave. He gave her a little smile as he walked out. She saw that he still had a pronounced limp. She wondered just how long it would take him to heal too.


	8. Chapter 8

It happened slowly at first. The Doctor noticed his favorite mug set on the kitchen counter with a hot kettle of water near and tea set out. Another time he came into the library to get a reference book while Rose was in there watching a movie. She didn't leave when he walked in. He was even able to walk towards the couch to see what she was watching. When he put his hand on the back of the couch though, she stiffened and he retreated. She no longer ran out the door when she left to go to the village, but let him see her go. She even started to tell him that she was leaving and sometimes even where she was going. He never pressed though.

Her trips to Mora's house were still frequent but she spent more time in the TARDIS. They were able to be in the same room periodically too. Still he didn't touch her. He gave her a wide berth without being obvious about it, though he ached whenever it happened.

After a few days of moving around each other the Doctor decided to take another step. He stopped his repair work just before lunch time and headed to the kitchen. Once there he went about preparing lunch for them. Chips, no fire this time, warm beef sandwiches and fizzy drinks were on the menu. As if on cue, Rose came to the doorway and looked in.

"Come in," he said beaming, "I made us lunch."

Rose had a look on her face that he couldn't quite read but she pulled out a chair and sat down. He took the seat opposite her and gave her a plate of food. She smiled politely. He noticed that she just picked at her food though.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, mouth full.

"No, I…I just had plans." Just then banging could be heard on the TARDIS door. "Mora and the boys wanted to meet me. Sorry." She stood to leave.

"Don't be sorry Rose, I should have asked you. Go be with your friends. I-I have work to do anyway." He stood too.

"Thank you for lunch though. I'll see you later?" She have him a polite smile and jogged out of the room.

"Yeah, maybe next time." He slumped in the chair again. He had a sinking feeling there was little progress to be made in the near future.

Rose met the others outside. Just before she closed the door she glanced back in and Mora caught it.

"What's the matter?" she asked, looping her arm in Rose's.

"I feel bad, Mora. He made lunch today. He didn't know I had plans."

"Do you talk to him?"

"Not really. He still makes me really nervous. I feel like we lost something. I'm trying to be more comfortable but all that stuff just comes flowing back. I hate it. "

"Do you still have nightmares?"

"Every night"

"Does he know?"

"No"

Mora stopped and spun Rose to look at her. "Let me ask you something. Do you want to be with him?"

"Yes"

"Did he get better?"

"Yes"

"Is he trying?"

"Yes"

"Well it's time you reciprocate."

"How though?"

"You need to talk to him, remember who he is. He ADORES you. You have to give him a chance."

"This coming from the girl who tried to set me up on a date."

"I am your friend, that is my job and I take that job very seriously. I need to attend to your emotional and relationship needs. When I saw that he was not a horrible person I realized that you two needed each other. Plus, Keva asked me out and I need you to have someone to double date with."

Rose looked at the boys walking ahead of them and gave Mora a big hug. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It just happened today. There is a dance tonight to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of winter. He asked me to go with him. I think you should ask the Doctor. Just ask him to come and talk more. Get him out of there for a while. What have you got to lose?"

Rose contemplated this for a minute. "OK I'll ask him, but just to come and talk. He can't dance anyway. His leg is still a mess."

"Fine then, ask him when you get back."

The Doctor threw himself into work. He couldn't help but think Rose was slipping away even more. No matter what he did she moved the other way. Perhaps the best thing to do was to get her home. She could make her decision from there.

The TARDIS repairs were coming along and he was getting prepared to finish a major segment of them. It was equally exciting and depressing. Being able to fix what he had broken was quite a feat and he was proud of himself for being able to pull it off; however having the repairs finished meant that Rose would be going home, maybe forever.

Spending this much time working on the TARDIS was good too. There were things that he had needed to work on for years, maybe centuries, that now he had no choice but to fix. He even redesigned several parts to make them more efficient. He finished the schematics on a particularly important one that day. Rose had left and he figured she would be gone for a while so he limped down to his shop to build it.

Rose came in a short time later looking for him. He wasn't in his usual places and after a while she gave up and went to go get dressed for the dance. She was actually looking forward to talking to him about this. Having him in another atmosphere with dancing and music may be what she needed to finally communicate.

She found a cute midriff bearing skirt and short sleeve blouse combo. The top even showed her upper arms. No matter, her bandages had been off for days and only some slight discoloration and a few scabs remained. Her chin still had stitches but her plaster on that was small now. The bruising on her jaw had all but subsided too. She picked out some nice sandals to show off the toenails that Mora had worked so hard on. Smiling, she twirled around in front of her mirror. It felt good to dress up. Her confidence surged and she had new resolve. This was the night she would finally be able to work things out with the Doctor.


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor was supremely aggravated. He had spent hours machining his TARDIS part and when he went to put it in place it didn't match up. Just getting into the position to work with it was a chore. Something was dripping on him and he had no idea where it was coming from, something else broke while he was there and showered him in a fine dust. Together they made a gooey paste on his jacket. He opted for the direct approach in getting the part to fit, he would force it. He blindly reached for his mallet, and on his back way up under the console he started banging on it. Before too long, it got close, but he had no space left to swing the mallet. This required him to pull with all his might.

He braced himself with his good leg and pushed with everything he had. The piece almost matched up but with his last push it slipped sideways and lid across the back of his hand, slicing it. "F% &!" he yelled in pain and frustration. The next sound he heard was the patter of footsteps on the grating just feet away from him. He looked out to see delicate sandals and pink toenails standing near him. He froze, prepared to see them run away, but they stayed.

Rose's voice came soft, "Doctor?"

He wiggled himself out, which was a feat in itself. He was caught up several times and then something hot dripped on his head, but he finally emerged, dirty, sticky, his hand throbbing. He remained seated, recovering a bit, then took a breath to be sure his voice was calm despite his discomfort. "Hi, Rose. You look nice. Are you going out?"

Rose took him in, his voice certainly didn't match is appearance. "I…um are you OK?"

"I'm fine," he said, putting his hand behind his back.

"Um…I was wondering if you… you know, never mind, you look busy."

"No really, please, say what you were going to say. I'm listening. "

"Well there is this dance, and I wanted to know if you wanted to go. To talk, you know. You don't have to dance of course, but it might be nice to be out."

The Doctor slowly got to his feet, dirt and various little broken TARDIS bits falling off him to the floor. He was covered with sweat and had dirt smeared on his forehead and face, not to mention the unknown paste stuck to the middle of his jacket front. He looked down at himself and then back to Rose, apologetically. "When is the dance?"

"It's now, I was just going."

"Oh," he made a weak attempt to brush himself off. "I don't think so Rose, I, um, am at a kind of critical part of the repairs right now. I really need to get this one-"

Rose broke in. "It's OK, I'll just go then." Her shoulders slumped a little and she looked at his hand that had fallen to his side. "You're bleeding."

He looked blankly at his bloody hand, then grabbed a rag off the console and wrapped it around it.

She looked at him, obviously not able to think of what to say next. She clearly was not thinking he would deny her request. "I'm gonna go," she said, pointing over her shoulder.

He put his head down, nodding. She turned without a further word and walked down the grating and out the door. With a heavy sigh the Doctor sat down hard again and pulled himself back down under the console to keep working. He knew it was a mistake, and that the tendrils of trust that had been swirling around them were dying. He cursed loudly again at everything at once. Her timing had been terrible, but she didn't know. It wasn't his fault, and it wasn't hers. He beat the mallet one more time, and nothing moved; except him. "I have got to go" he thought. "If I want to get her back I need to go to her." He wiggled out of his little space and ran, still limping a little, to his room to change.

It took the Doctor nearly an hour to shower and change. He had a lot of difficulty getting the drippings out of his hair and off his skin. He contemplated going to the med-bay to use the dermal regenerator on his hand, but thought it may take too long and went for a large plaster instead. Finally he went to swipe a little product in his hair, only to realize he was out. Rose had something similar in her room so he went to go get it.

Her room was quiet. She must have showered before she left because the smell of her shampoo still hung in the air. He was relieved to see that she had put away the torn pants and he smiled at her unmade bed. His eyes fell on her bedside table that was curiously empty. What had been there before that wasn't now? He walked over to examine it a little more closely. The drawer was slightly ajar and inside there was a frame face down. He carefully reached in, admonishing himself for getting into her things, while at the same time pulling out the picture. He stared at it, instantly recognizing the happy picture of the two of them. He nearly dropped it as a chill crept up his spine. He thought she was ready to be there with him, or at least close to it. But no, this confirmed it. She couldn't look at him anymore. He had to fix this, right now, no more mucking about. If he wanted Rose back he was going to have to go get her. He dropped the frame onto the bed and without another thought headed out of the TARDIS to the dance.

The evening was cool but the temperature in the dance hall was warming up. The theme was "harvest time" and oil lamps hung from the walls with various hay bales and farm accoutrements all around. There was a live band on the stage playing the eclectic music of the region. Rose had grown to like it, as Mora often played it for her when they had been in her room. There were tables of food and drink; even a big keg-like barrel full of the local fermented ale. Rose abstained from it because she had no idea how it would affect her. The last thing she needed to do was get intoxicated and run into the Doctor, especially tonight.

The dance was lively though and Rose watched as Keva and Mora twirled around together. She even danced with some of the men her age for fun, but avoided doing any of the slow dances. After a while Mora approached and motioned her to follow to the food tables.

"Let's get some food and go and talk!" she yelled over the music.

Rose nodded and they both collected plates and sampled the cuisine. They carefully held their plates, climbing the narrow wooden ladder to the loft overlooking the dance floor. Thankfully it was much quieter than down below. They sat on chairs knee to knee to talk.

"Keva asked me if I wanted to couple with him," Mora said with a giggle.

"Whoa, my ship translated for me but you need to explain that one."

"What? It means he wants to be with me…exclusively. What did you think it means?"

"Well I wasn't sure if it meant…um… being intimate. I thought that was a little forward!"

"Oh, we've kissed and it was nice." Mora wore an extra big smile.

Rose squealed with glee. "Do tell!" She leaned in even closer for the rest of the story.

Below them things were getting rowdy. Some of the locals boys were starting to get a little possessive and jockeying for position amongst the eligible local girls. Rose and Mora were oblivious, laughing and giggling on the loft. Had they looked out they would have seen the dance floor part revealing two burly farm hands sizing each other up. They puffed up their chests, entering into the peculiar ritual for fighting for honor, or for the hand of a girl, or whatever hormonal young men fought over.

Voices were raised as jeers emanated from the crowd of less brave revelers. The two men circled around each other and made little, yet aggressive steps forward, trying to trick the other into taking the first step. The crowd surged and retreated, feeding off the excitement. Rose and Mora felt the change in the energy in the room and crawled to the edge of the loft to survey the scene. They exchanged nervous glances. Mora turned to Rose, "I better go get my father. All the older men are outside smoking, he needs to probably get in there and cool these boys down." She made to get up just as chaos erupted below.


	10. Chapter 10

The fight started very aggressively as one young man ran and tackled the other, full force, both of them crashing into a table, knocking it over and spilling an oil lamp on the ground. The burning lamp oil spread across the floor igniting a bale of hay that had broken and leaked its contents. From there the fire blew up. Multiple bales lit almost simultaneously, other oil lamps igniting as the crowd panicked and stampeded. Flames caught fire to the long skirts of some of the women and pants of the men. The horror of the scene stunned Rose and Mora, though they were out of the crush of the terrified townspeople, the crowd quickly knocked down the ladder, and their only escape. They were trapped.

The Doctor limped along towards the town lost in his own thoughts. He had been pleased with how quickly he had been healing; only a little swelling remained, though he still retained a lot of bruising, most likely from trying to walk too soon. Now though, he cursed the walk in, it seemed shorter when he was in no pain, but this was undoubtedly the longest distance he had tried to venture as of yet. The TARDIS afforded a certain level of comfort and he would easily find places to rest if needed so he hadn't needed to test himself. Plus there was no moon out that night and his sonic only provided a certain measure of light, so he tripped frequently.

A distant sound captured his ears. Popping, roaring, and what, screaming? He raised his gaze to see an orange glow coming from above the town. As he tuned in, the cries of people became clearer as well as the sounds of crashing. "ROSE!" he yelled frantically running now, pain now forgotten.

Rose and Mora crouched, clinging together. The heat was oppressive and the smoke strangling. They had contemplated jumping into mayhem below but it was roughly fifteen feet down with burning rumble everywhere. If they landed wrong they could burn. On the other hand the loft was starting to sag; the wooded struts must have been burning as well. The girls were frozen with fear. Mora was sobbing and Rose held her close. She was no stranger to dangerous situations but she usually had a hand, and now she was alone with a hysterical friend she was not willing to let go.

The Doctor arrived, out of breath, leg throbbing to size up the scene. Townspeople were strewn about, some still smoking. Cries echoed in the night, calls for help. A handful of the uninjured were scurrying about trying their best but the scene was still horrific. The Doctor ran through the throng of bodies, searching for a familiar face until finally he came upon one. It was Enu. His face was covered in soot and his tunic had been burned nearly off. He coughed violently. The Doctor painfully kneeled next to him. "Where is Rose? Have you seen her?" his voice strained.

Enu coughed again and rasped, "I don't know… where they are… I saw them heading…up to the loft."

Just then Stal came running up. "I can't find Mora!" he was breathing heavily, eyes wide and panic evident. All three of them looked back into the dance hall, they all knew at once what was happening.

Stal turned and started in, just as the Doctor grabbed his arm. "No Stal, you stay with Enu. He needs you. Help move people away too, this whole building looks like it wants to collapse."

With that he shucked his long jacket and suit jacket but tied the latter around his waist. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and holding it over his nose and mouth he stepped into the hall.

The dance floor was vacant of people. He bent under the smoke and could see some legs, someone was standing on the far side near the stage. He kicked and stumbled his way over burnt wreckage, hopes alive. When he arrived he reached out and grabbed, a small hand fell into his. He pulled and out popped a young teenage girl about thirteen. She had been partially obstructed from view. She looked up at him with big brown eyes and tear streaked cheeks. He swung his arm under her legs and picked her up without a word, heading for the door. She went limp in his arms, making it more difficult to carry her over the rubble. Finally he made it to the door and screamed, "STAL!" The other man joined him quickly, grabbed the girl, and gave him a pained look. "Not yet," was all the Doctor could tell him as he ducked back inside.

The smoke was thick, especially near the ceiling. The Doctor stilled, just listening. He could feel the fire licking at his pants, the searing heat starting to melt the soles of his trainers, but he stood completely still listening. He blocked out the outside noise, the roar of the flames and even the sounds of his beating hearts. Then he heard it, a cough, a murmur, crying. He looked up, there was the loft. It sagged badly, starting to disintegrate before his eyes. He stumbled over and cried, "ROSE!"

There were a few seconds of silence, then a very quiet, very weak, "Doctor, over here."

The edge of the loft was nearly gone. It had buckled and was ready to crumble. As he stumbled over, there was a cracking above him. He leaped just as a large portion of roof caved in, crashing down just feet from him, showering him with sparks and debris. He quickly patted out the embers that landed on him before they caught him on fire also. The enormous hole in the roof turned out to be a blessing; it allowed the thick smoke to vent out into the night. As the smoke cleared, the Doctor got a clearer view of Rose, now huddled in the back corner, with Mora. He wanted to whoop for joy at the sight of them. It was short lived though, as the loft jerked suddenly, almost collapsing under them. If it did they would be crushed.

He stepped closer just as the floor of the loft dipped violently again. Rose was holding Mora very tight, her eyes locked in silent horror, pleading. He stood just below the dipping loft. "I've got you!" he yelled, arms wide open. Mora was shaking her head no, but the Doctor could see Rose breaking their embrace, pushing Mora off. She squared her friend to him and pushed hard, flinging Mora down the slope in the floor to him. The entire way Mora screamed and grabbed at anything she could to keep from falling. She was unsuccessful in slowing her descent, and fell hard into the Doctor, knocking him over into a burning heap of rubble. He jumped to his feet, scooped her up with one hand, with his other he pulled his jacket from his waist and covered her, and then ran for the door.

Once outside he delivered her to Stal, who had been crouching over the young girl from before. There was a brief tearful reunion before the Doctor turned to go back in for Rose. Stal called out to him, "Be careful!" but the Doctor had already gone back though the door.

There was a groaning noise now in the building. The structural integrity was failing. Time was limited now. The Doctor bounded over the burning heaps of the hall and back over to where the loft was. Just as he took his final steps up searching for Rose, the floor of the loft came crashing down. He jumped back, screaming. He was too late. He started madly digging through the ruins looking for her; hoping upon hope that he could get to her before she burned alive. Another noise caught his attention; it was a little yelp, up and to his right. He looked up and between the plumes of smoke he caught a glimpse of Rose, clinging to a burning girder.

He scrambled over the wreckage to be below her. The flames burned his legs and were starting to advance up his pants. "Jump, Rose, I'll get you!"

Rose clung harder, no emotion on her face, completely paralyzed. She hadn't been able to trust him yet; they were still barely in the talking stages. Now she had to, she had no choice. The Doctor reached out for her. "Please," he begged, trying desperately not to let the pain of his burning skin show on his face. "You have to jump, YOU HAVE TO TRUST ME!"

Rose wavered a little and the girder cracked and dipped her down. The Doctor stood, arms extended to her. "PLEASE ROSE! IF YOU DON'T YOU WILL DIE!" he screamed above the noise of the swiftly collapsing dance hall.

She moved a bit towards him, the girder shaking as she did. She was about to push off when there was another horrific noise. Another huge piece of roof cracked off and fell, landing all around and on the Doctor's back. He shook it off as best he could, somehow he remained upright. Rose jumped then as the girder broke off, he held out his arms and she landed, knocking him to his knees. He struggled up, and trudged out the door.

Rose felt other hands grabbing at her roughly and setting her feet on the ground. She turned away from them locating the Doctor, he was being smothered by blankets, surrounded by people. The whole lot of them seemed to bend down suddenly, and she realized that he had collapsed. Ten seconds later the building did too.


	11. Chapter 11

The resulting chaos from the building collapse sent people running everywhere. Rose got pulled back and ended amongst the masses of injured people. She was taken to a triage area and no matter how she protested no one could tell her where the Doctor was. She had her burns attended to and dressed, luckily they were pretty minor. While she waited she was reunited with Mora and Enu. They were both doing OK, but Enu's back was burned. He would recover though. She sat with them for a bit, and as soon as no one was watching she bolted for the infirmary.

The scene at the infirmary was crazy. There where people laying everywhere on gurneys, moaning. The smell of burnt hair and flesh hung heavy in the air. Rose ran down the halls, peering into each room in turn, and then checking each gurney. In the last room at the end of the hall there was a small collection of people all crowded around a bed. She edged into the room trying to see through to get a glimpse of who was on the table. One of the nurses stepped aside briefly and she caught sight of something that made her heart stop. One high top white trainer hung almost off the bed, its sole nearly melted off.

The Doctor was awake but not moving. Last time he had woken in a strange place there were armed guards and restraints on three of his limbs. He analyzed his position, he had been placed on his side, propped up on pillows. An oxygen mask was attached to his face. He slowly moved his right hand, finding it free. He moved both of his legs, they were sore but not restrained. As he moved he heard a light gasp from someone near the bed. He tried to open his eyes, but they were hard to open. His face felt raw, including his eyelids. He finally reached up and forced them open. Just then he felt that his hand was heavily bandaged. When his eyes focused he saw a girl seated a few feet away. She had her legs drawn up, her arms were around them and she was hugging them tightly. Big sad eyes peeked at him over her knees.

He pulled down the oxygen mask. "Rose?" his voice was rough and barely audible.

Rose set her feet on the floor and carefully advanced on him, still keeping her distance.

"Are you ok?" he rasped, adjusting himself to look up at her.

She laughed a little and wiped away a tear.

"And Mora?"

"She's fine too." She was smiling now, a small smile but one none the less.

"What's so funny?" he was very careful to watch his tone and keep his voice level.

"You haven't even asked about yourself." She stepped closer.

"Oh me, I'm fine, I… what exactly happened?"

Rose laughed again, came in closer and rested her hand on the railing of his bed. "You saved me, and Mora and a girl. You were getting me out when the roof collapsed. You burned your back and legs and well, your hands too, but you still saved me. I want to thank you."

The Doctor looked away and swallowed. His throat was very sore and he coughed a little. Rose was quick to produce a cup of water and leaned in to hold the cup, allowing him to sip from the straw. When he had had a little bit he nodded and leaned back a bit and she took the cup away.

Rose did not like the silence between them, feeling that she had to say something. "Loor says that he is amazed at how fast your burns are healing. He says you are remarkable."

"That's me, ." He adjusted a little in the bed, wincing but settling after a few moments. Rose moved closer yet and slid her hand up on the bed railing. It was near his head now. The Doctor looked at her hand, sitting there right near his face as he lay on his side. Tentatively he lifted his right hand, and when she didn't flinch, he settled it on hers. He could not feel her like usual, the bandages were too think, but he could feel the warmth of her skin radiating through. She grinned at him and left her hand where it was.

When Loor came in about an hour later he found the Doctor sitting up in bed, chatting politely with Rose. "Well there is my favorite patient, you look good, Doctor!" Loor exclaimed, "I guess you want to go home soon."

"That would be nice." The Doctor glanced at Rose who nodded too. Loor couldn't help but notice that the Doctor's hand rested on Rose's on the bedside. He smiled to himself. "I have a couple more patients to attend to, but I'll be back soon to set you free." Rose and the Doctor both returned his smile.

When Loor left, Rose turned to the Doctor. "I know it wasn't you."

The Doctor was a little startled by this. He just stared at her blankly. He knew that eventually they would have to hash all this out, but given the innocuous nature of their conversation just moments ago he didn't think the time was now. He squeezed the hand lightly that was now under his left hand. She continued, "I want things to go back to normal, just the Doctor and Rose, travelling the stars and helping the helpless."

"I'd like that," he said softly, looking up at her.

Loor came back after about an hour. During that time Rose and the Doctor reminisced about their time together. By the time Loor came in they were both giggling like children. "It's nice to see that you two found each other again." Loor's cryptic statement confused them both for a few moments before it sunk in that he was referring to them as friends.

Rose ran off to go check on Mora and Enu while when Loor and some nurses came in. They helped in taking off some of the bandages and getting him into a pair of pyjamas so he could get home. His hands were nearly totally healed and his back and legs were coming along nicely. Loor didn't ask how that could be and the Doctor didn't offer an explanation.

Rose came back in after a bit and found him sitting in the chair by the bed wrestling with a partially melted shoe, trying to get it on. She came over to him, kneeled down and took the offending shoe from him and slipped it on his foot and tied it. He offered her a bright smile. "I guess I will need new shoes, I really liked those ones."

"Well, when you take me home you can…" She stopped, because the look on his face was his face was positively stricken. "I mean when you _eventually_ take me home we can go."

He grinned and stood, she followed suit. They stood there, mere inches away from each other, neither moving. Rose moved first, arms twitching a little, she had them partway up when his raised quickly, enveloping her in a warm hug. Her arms were a little trapped by his embrace so she looped them around his waist. They held each other tightly. The Doctor was in heaven, he had longed for her touch for so long. Her hugs were both invigorating and soothing; they recharged his hearts and made him feel like all was right in the universe. Rose wasn't letting go either. He still smelled a little of smoke but he still smelled like himself too. She even nuzzled in a little closer and he held her a little tighter still.

They remained locked in their bliss until someone cleared his throat behind them, someone else giggled. They each loosened their grip, but didn't let go, and turned to face their visitors. Stal and Mora stood in the doorway; they were both smiling knowingly at them. Mora spoke up, "We're here to take you two home." Rose's face had flushed red and she let go, but before she did she found his hand and gave it a little squeeze.

That night Rose and the Doctor invited Stal and Mora to have dinner in the TARDIS. Enu was still recovering and thought maybe he would stay behind. The Doctor knew full well that the last time they had been there it was a completely different situation. But since they had been in there before he was not afraid to let them in. He was eager to get going again, but as a favor to Rose he wanted to thank her friends. Earlier he and Rose had spent time in the med-bay healing what remained of his and her burns as well as taking out her stitches and erasing the scar on her chin. She hesitated a bit when he went to fix any scars that remained on her upper arms, but with a gentle touch and reassuring words she changed her mind.

When Mora and Stal arrived, Rose led them on a brief tour, still avoiding the deep recesses of the TARDIS, just limiting them to the console room, library, bedrooms and kitchen, which was their last stop. When they got there they were treated to amazing new smells and sights. The Doctor had whipped up shepherd's pie, fish and chips, custard, beans, mash, and several other items of traditional English food. He even brewed his favorite blend of tea for them to sample.

Dinner was a lighthearted affair; everyone shared funny stories and laughed. Mora couldn't help but see how the Doctor doted on Rose, and found ways to touch her, whether he was holding his hand, poking her when he told a joke, or playfully bumping hips with her. She grew increasingly comfortable with the man Rose had told wild stories about and obviously liked immensely.

When dinner was done, the Doctor took Stal to the console room to show him more things, and Rose took Mora to her room. Mora looked around in amazement. All the pink frilly things and trinkets were in contrast to her room. They sat on Rose's bed to talk.

"Mora, thanks for being there for me. I feel bad that I had to use you like that. But you really helped me keep my head on and helped me realize what I really needed. I don't think I could have done it without you."

"Rose, I'd be stupid if I couldn't see that you two were made for each other. All I did was help you make up your mind after everything was over. I am going to miss you though, are you sure that you can't come up with another crisis so you can stay?" Rose laughed and the girls had a tearful hug. Just before they left to join the others Rose grabbed the pink sparkly nail polish off her desk and pressed it into Mora's hand. "Oh no Rose, you can't. It's your favorite, and I happen to know he likes it too." Mora winked at her.

Rose grinned at Mora and closed her hand over the little bottle. "We'll get more; I know the store to go to and everything."

"Do you think they will still have it?"

Rose opted to leave out the whole time-travel thing. "Oh I'm sure."

As they stood at the door and bid their friends goodbye, after another tearful hug, the Doctor wrapped his arm loosely around Rose's waist. Finally after waving until they were out of sight, Rose leaned back on the door and the Doctor bounded over to the console.

"So Rose, where to?" He was beaming at her. She jogged up to the console and took her place next to him.

"Oh anywhere, surprise me…I trust you." The Doctor turned to her, his eyes sparkling , smiling from ear to ear and gathered her into an epic hug.


End file.
